CHICAGO —There are no illusions at Wrigley Field about the present. At 52-67 after Tuesday night's 6-4 loss to the Cincinnati Reds in 11 innings, the Chicago Cubs would have to go 30-13 in their remaining games to avoid a fourth straight losing season, while a playoff spot would just about require running the table for a month and a half.

The Cubs almost certainly will finish better than last year's 61-101 team, which would mark the first season of improvement on the North Side of Chicago since a 12-game jump from 85 wins in 2007 to 97 in 2008 and a second straight National League Central title. Since then, the Cubs' win total has slid steadily, from 97 to 83 to 75 to 71 to the worst showing since the 1966 Cubs went 59-103.

Since June, the Cubs have been stripping down and looking toward the future, trading Steve Clevenger, Scott Feldman, Matt Garza, Scott Hairston, Carlos Marmol, Guillermo Moscoso, and Alfonso Soriano for Jake Arrieta, Corey Black, C.J. Edwards, Justin Grimm, Matt Guerrier, Mike Olt, Ivan Pineyro, Pedro Strop, and as many as three players to be named later. All of the new additions except for Guerrier, a 35-year-old reliever who will be a free agent this winter, are under team control through 2016 or later.

Not all of the players acquired over the past two and a half months will become big contributors at the major league level, but the philosophy being utilized is that even for a huge-market team, success must be built, not bought.

"You just can't find prime age or pre-prime age players anymore," Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein said. "They're not available in free agency. Players are getting tied up in long-term deals and most players that are getting to free agency now are on the wrong side of 30. If you have a player who's mid-20s available and he's not subject to any type of restriction, there's 30 teams interested in that player, and it increases his market (value)."

Robinson Cano, the most ballyhooed member of this year's free agent class, turns 31 in October. The team that signs the star second baseman, whether it's the New York Yankees retaining him or not, will be paying a monstrous amount of money for the decline phase of Cano's career. Jacoby Ellsbury turns 30 next month and has had major injuries two of the last four years. Garza turns 30 in November, as does Josh Johnson in January and Brian McCann in February.

According to the list of pending free agents at mlbtraderumors.com, the only pending free agents who will be in their age 29 or younger season in 2014, and are playing in the major leagues right now, are Alexi Casilla, Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes, Boone Logan, Eric O'Flaherty, and Jarrod Saltalamacchia. Of those half-dozen players, only Saltalamacchia has a WAR of better than 1.0 this season, and he's at 1.4. The entire group has a combined 2.6 WAR for the year. Suffice to say, the days of finding a 25-year-old Alex Rodriguez and throwing a 10-year, $252 million deal his way (and, steroids or not, he did win three MVPs over those 10 years) are pretty much over. Of the top 10 players in the majors in WAR this year, by baseball-reference.com's system, the only one who can be a free agent heading into 2015 is Clayton Kershaw, who will be 26 years old and will already have about 1,400 major league innings under his belt.

"I think there's more risk inherent in long-term contracts for pitchers," Epstein said. "You probably see it quicker for the position players, but a lot of pitchers get wrapped up, too."

The Cubs are starting to make those long-term deals with their own players. Shortstop Starlin Castro and first baseman Anthony Rizzo are both inked through 2019, with options after that.

"There are a lot of young, great players," Cubs outfielder Nate Schierholtz, who is eligible for arbitration this winter and free agency next winter, told Sporting News. "Rizzo's a great player to build around, and I think a lot of the pieces are there. We'll have to go out and get some guys, but there's a good base, a lot of young guys. We just need to work on being more consistent and lots of different parts of the game, getting better. That's what young teams need to do. I think most teams that are successful have both. It's not just veteran guys that are the only ones that can go out and win. I think we have a good base, we just have to put it all together. For us, it's keeping that mindset that today is the most important day and we have to go out and kick the other team's butt tonight. To me, that's the only mindset that works."

A farm system stocked with high-end talent, and bolstered by this year's trades, will be expected to produce further organizational cornerstones. It will take patience, but Cubs fans have nothing if not that, and it is a whole lot smarter than throwing good money after bad on the free agent market.

The Dodgers don't lose much when Hanley Ramirez plays. (AP Photo)

NOT CAUGHT SHORT

The Los Angeles Dodgers are 37-18 in games Hanley Ramirez has played this season, and they have not lost consecutive games in which the shortstop has appeared since June 20-21, going 31-7 when he has been healthy — and in those 38 games, Ramirez has hit .354 with a 1.053 OPS. In the nine games Ramirez has missed, the Dodgers have gone 8-1 — their 39-8 run since June 22 is the best in the majors since the 1951, when the New York Giants got just that hot to chase down the Brooklyn Dodgers and win the pennant, win the pennant, win the pennant. ... The Kansas City Royals' 1-0, 10-inning loss to the Miami Marlins on Tuesday was their first defeat by that margin since opening day against the Chicago White Sox. Oddly enough, the Royals' last 1-0 loss in extra innings also was in interleague play, as Arizona's Chad Tracy hit a homer off Yasuhiko Yabuta in 2008. ... Speaking of walk-offs in the desert, Paul Goldschmidt's 11th-inning blast on Tuesday against the Orioles was his third this season for the Diamondbacks, and second in less than a week after downing the Mets on Friday. Goldschmidt's two homers against Baltimore on Tuesday (he also hit the tying blast in the ninth) snapped a tie with Chris Widger for sixth all-time among players born in Delaware. With 57 homers in his career — 29 this season — Goldschmidt may have a shot at the state record next season. Randy Bush, John Mabry, and Dave May share the mark at 96, with Kevin Mench at 89 and Delino DeShields at 80.

In his seventh season in professional baseball, Andrew Lambo finally is getting a shot in the majors. (AP Photo)

#ASKSPECTOR

Questions from the Twitterati... Have something to ask? Go to the Twitter machine and use the hashtag #AskSpector. All subjects are welcome, as you'll see, although surprisingly, nobody asked about food this time.

@PandaPSU asks: "Do you think Andrew Lambo will make an impact for the Pirates?"

The 25-year-old outfielder, acquired in the 2010 trade that sent Octavio Dotel to the Dodgers, went 0-for-3 in his major league debut on Tuesday. Lambo hit 31 home runs between Double-A and Triple-A this season, 17 of which came in 216 at-bats at the higher level. What concerns me is 123 strikeouts in 491 minor league at-bats, plus one on Tuesday. Clearly, if Lambo gets the bat on the ball, it can go a long way, and I would expect him to provide an impact that way, but it's a big ask if you mean "impact" the way that, say, Yasiel Puig has provided one for the Dodgers.

@jennconnic asks: "Where should the Mets play (Wilmer) Flores?"

Before he hurt his ankle on Tuesday, Flores was looking pretty good at third base, but obviously that's David Wright's position. The 22-year-old Venezuelan has played mostly second base in Class AAA, and while there has been some talk about his future being at first base because of limited range, if he can play the position capably and hit above league average for a keystone sacker, it makes sense to keep him there and pair him with a defensive-minded shortstop, especially if Ike Davis rediscovers his form and proves to be the man at first for years to come. That kind of stinks for Daniel Murphy, who gets squeezed out, but when the Mets are ready to contend, Murphy's role should be as a fifth infielder anyway, providing value with his versatility and his bat.

@LastcallLarry asks: "other than Sunderland, which European Football team are you most excited about seeing this season?"

Well, I'm extremely excited about Sunderland, my favorite team for the 15 years I've been following soccer in Europe, having American striker Jozy Altidore on board, but I'm very interested to see what Real Madrid and Barcelona do with new managers. One team that might be a little further afield that interests me is Monaco, in the French league, after a very strong opening game, and employing the services of one of the top five players in the world in Radamel Falcao.

@Dan_Radin asks: "Why aren't we calling Matt Harvey Doc?"

This has to be in jest, right? There's already Doc Gooden, for one, and then Roy Halladay has often been called Doc, too. I've talked about how I'm sick of the recycling of nicknames — it's not just in baseball: the best thing about LaDainian Tomlinson retiring is that I don't have to cringe at hearing someone other than Lawrence Taylor be called "LT" anymore — so, Dan, Doc, I'll assume you're aware of this stance. Almost anything would be better than "Doc" for Matt Harvey — the exception would be "M-Harv." Do not call him M-Harv.

Both of these are too hard to answer definitively. For current nicknames, it's because I can't think of any that would actually reach favorite status unless you count "Big Potato" for Jose Valverde, who isn't on a team right now. For past nicknames, how can you choose between The Human Eyeball, Spaceman, Oil Can, Chairman of the Board, Rabbit, The Mad Hungarian, Penguin, Piano Legs, Le Grand Orange, and Death to Flying Things, among so many others? You just can't. At least, I can't. Sorry.

Al Hrabosky, who pitched in the majors from 1970 to 1982, was known as the 'The Mad Hungarian.' (AP Photo)

@CallysEgo3 asks: "Who ya got winning the NL Cy Young this year?"

I'm kind of glad I don't have a vote, because it's going to be so hard to choose, but I'd lean toward Clayton Harvey. No, Matt Kershaw. Really, flip a coin. I think Kershaw probably gets the edge because Harvey is going to run into an innings limit.

@scoknuts asks: "Want to watch the EPL this year, need a team any suggestions? No Man U thank you."

You can join me in rooting for Sunderland, but I warn you, that's a path fraught with constant disappointment and heartache, and if you ever want to see a game in person, it's not exactly convenient, although I have been to the Stadium of Light, and it was worth the trip even if it was a 1-0 loss to hated rival Newcastle -- I had a great time drowning sorrows with the rest of the Red and White Army afterward. My favorite London club is Chelsea because I went to see them play Tottenham Hotspur in 2002 and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink scored a hat trick. How could you not like a guy named Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink? Note, he's not there anymore, but Chelsea is a good team for a new fan to get on board -- they're not Manchester United or Arsenal, they've got a lot of crazy drama all the time, and they compete for titles.

@Therealtap1 asks: "How much of a blow will the loss of Bolland, Frolik, and Stalberg be to the Hawks' chances in 2014?"

Not that much. Chicago won the Stanley Cup with Bolland having a down year and Stalberg pretty much an afterthought in the playoffs. Of the three, losing Frolik hurts the most, but if the Blackhawks' biggest worry is replacing a bottom-sixer, and there are more young forwards on the way, they'll be fine. The much bigger concern is trying to get through the 2013-14 season in good health, which is always difficult after a short summer, and a much bigger reason for "Cup hangovers" than any kind of mental inability to deal with the mantle of being defending champions